Even though you run your business online, your prospects and customers still live offline. And that’s why your overall marketing strategy should include at least a few offline advertising tactics. Here are five ideas to get you started…

Send out press releases

If you’re already doing press releases, chances are you’re doing online distribution via a service such as PRWeb.com. However, if you want to get some local ink, then create press releases with a local angle and send them directly to the editors of your local newspapers and other media.

Initiate offline joint ventures

The idea here is to join forces with offline business owners for mutual benefit. For example, if you sell dog training information, you might do a joint venture with those who own pet supplies stores, grooming shops, veterinarian offices and similar.

Here are two ideas to get you thinking about how to do offline joint ventures:

• You create flyers to put in customer shopping bags. These flyers include the shop owner’s affiliate link, so you both make money when someone purchases something via the flyer.
• You offer to give informative talks or mini-workshops at the store. The owner gets the benefit of increased foot traffic plus commissions on backend sales.

Give free lectures

The idea here is to offer your free talk as a lead magnet, and then collect email addresses of all participants so that you can begin sending them follow up information and promotions.

Send out direct mail

Getting something in the regular mail is beginning to be a bit of a novelty these days, which means your recipients are likely to pay attention to any postcards or other materials you send via the mail. That’s why you’ll want to consider collecting postal mailing addresses alongside regular email addresses.

Place ads

Still another way to reach your prospects via offline channels is to place paid advertising in targeted publications. This includes:

• Local newspapers, either display ads in targeted sections of the paper, or classified ads.

TIP: You can save money by calling the ad editor and asking about “remnant advertising.” This is advertising that doesn’t get filled up right before the paper is going to print, so you can snap it up at discounted prices.

• Free local publications. These are the magazines and newspapers you see being distributed for free in local restaurants, stores, hotels, etc.

You can also consider placing ads in other channels, such as on the local radio channels. It’s a good idea to do small ad buys first to see if you’re getting a good response. If you’re getting good conversions, then do bigger ad buys to get your promos in front of even more people.

Even though you run your business online, that doesn’t mean you should ignore offline advertising methods. Indeed, many of your competitors ignore them – which gives you a keen advantage if you’re reaching your prospects offline!